Recently, in the April 1996 issue of Fusion Facts, H. Fox reports(1) about the recent experimental work of Bockris and Minevski and Mizuno, et al. It seems that both Bockris and Minevski(2), and Mizuno et al.(3) have reported about the production of heavy elements and new elements in a surface layer on their palladium electrode. Bockris commented, "There is suggestive evidence that new nuclei occur in occupied sites within the palladium and that these sites are "damage areas" consisting of holes in the palladium(4)." Such a phenomena of voids near the surface which contain new elements is quite similar to results Matsumoto published almost four and a half years ago, and I explained such voids according to my plasmoid ideas(5). In 1991, Matsumoto produced convincing evidence of massive production of many elements and heavy elements in voids in a palladium electrode, and he developed his own "Nattoh(6)" model. And I resolved these CF phenomena as a plasmoid phenomena that Matsumoto wrote that he thinks is right. Yet the phenomena he produced has been almost totally ignored. According to lots of evidence, it seems to me that atoms and particles are plasmoids as are galaxies and stars(7,8,9,10), and I have developed a working theory about all phenomena as plasmoid phenomena. An understanding of atoms and particles as plasmoids would enable understanding of many anomalous phenomena such as the cold fusion phenomena and the production of elements and atoms.

Plasmoid research goes back decades, and many people have developed similar phenomena and ideas in different areas such as electrical discharge fusion research, astrophysics, ball lightning research, and general physical theories. W. Bostick produced things he called "plasmoids" by discharging through electrodes, and in an article(11) published in 1957 he speculated about the identity of galaxies and particles as "plasmoids." According to A. Peratt(12), Bostick coined the term "plasmoid." This early work led to furthur research experiential research of plasmoids for various purposes. From Bostick's early work, and Alfven's early work with plasmas, a whole school of plasma astrophysical research also has developed. E. Lerner published a good recent book(13) about the development of astrophysical plasmoid theories. The plasmoid research also led to some ball lightning research and modeling.

Recently, I resolved the phenomena of ball lightning and the tiny objects emitted during the cold fusion phenomena as plasmoid phenomena, and developed a general theory about phenomena as plasmoid phenomena. The various kinds of plasmoids emitted by the electrolysis and discharge apparatus used by Matsumoto emit tiny plasmoids which he has photographed and leave several kinds of traces on emulsions(8). They travel though glass, water, and air to get to the emulsions, which is a behavior like that of ball lightning. He has published many pictures of these traces in many articles such as the ones referenced in this article, and accepts he is producing ball lightning-like plasmoids.

I think that atoms are plasmoids that are origins of that which manifests as electricity or light and that atoms may convert to light and/or electricity directly, and that light and electricity may convert to atoms. This idea contradicts the basic ideas of conservation of Baryon number, hadrons, nuclear structure and etc., but I think that the evidence for this is simply the evidence of plasmoids emitting atomic particles, such as the one that passed through glass that left the trail and particle traces that Matsumoto calls the "Superstar" (Fig. 8)(14) trace, hollow tunnels left by moving plasmoids and other voids in electrodes and other materials, the recent work with "electron droplets" or "electron clumps" that some experimental researchers such as Marc Kastner at MIT are calling "artificial atoms" that are indications of such an idea, and the anomalous atomic production reported all over the world. In particular, recent work with the electron clumps such as those produced by Kastner and others suggest how plasmoids may clump more tightly. As Kastner has reported, magnetic or electric fields cause electron clumps to become tighter and tighter. I would generalize and resolve this information to the idea that electricity or light causes plasmoids to clump generally, as I have long suspected.

As K. Shoulders wrote to me, "A new binding method for electrons has been found and the old one using a nucleus is passe'."(15)(16) However, he may have meant simply that atomic reactions are surpassed as an energy source by larger "EVs"(17) and may actually accept the idea of permanent "hadrons" in the devices he makes. There is no longer a reason to think in terms of nuclei as the reason electricity seems to clump as atoms. However, I don't know enough experiential evidence to pronounce the structure of atoms or other plasmoids, and I don't know whether plasmoids are usually clumps of electrons or of objects larger than electrons.

I explained two different kinds of holes people find in electrodes: round ones due to plasmoid boring and intergrain or grain-shaped voids that may be lined with new elements and crystals that are due to the clumping or conversion of plasmoid atoms, and the emission of plasmoids of various types and sizes. Others such as Liaw and Silver(18) have photographed such seemingly anomalous micrometer size round pits or produced SEM pictures of them. And both Silver and Matsumoto (Fig. 10)(19) have shown photographs or SEM pictures of micrometer size ditches or trails in their electrodes that are similar to the trails on the nuclear emulsions that Matsumoto has shown. K. Shoulders has reported about both pits and tunnels, and ditches or grooves(20) in materials produced by the plasmoids he uses. Both the kinds of voids and the ditches are evidence of the conversion of plasmoid atoms to light and/or electricity and/or other kinds of plasmoids in association with the moving plasmoids.

Interestingly, the new element filled voids in the electrode that Matsumoto used seem to be "near the surface" or opening on the surface, almost entirely within about 20 micrometers of the surface, most within 10 micrometers. But the voids are quite large, sometimes greater than 8 micrometers in width. In the same way, the voids in Numata et al.'s(21) electrode seem to be on and near the surface, in a layer of grains at the surface distinct from the two huge crystals that make up the bulk. I couldn't tell the dimensions from the article. They did not perform elemental analysis.

Several groups early on such as that of Numata et al. compared the electrode phenomena to the earth's earthquakes and volcanoes. The emission of ball lightning-like plasmoids by electrodes is similar to the emission of gorgons(22) from the earth. Gorgons are a kind of plasmoid that behaves like atmospheric ball lightning but which are emitted by the earth from volcanoes or during earthquakes, or at other times. They are sometimes very long lived and travel at supersonic speeds. They may be microscopic particles like the ones produced by Matsumoto or huge phenomena more than half a mile long such as the one recently videotaped and shown on Paranormal Borderlines(23). Perhaps many of the readers saw the program. Recently, a video taken about April of 1996 of a "white cylinder" that was a half mile long traveling very fast about 75000 feet over Colorado was featured on that television show. A similar picture that was taken a little later in another state was also shown. According to reports, the object was luminous and rapidly exhibited a variety of changing colors and seems to have been layered or somewhat segmented. Egon Bach has studied this kind of phenomena for many years, and describes many phenomena like this. In the referenced book(24) by Egon Bach, there is a series of pictures of a long-term semicircular chain of giant gorgons near a volcanic cloud that show that the plasmoid chain did no rotate. This suggests that circular plasmoid chains do not all rotate. Evidence that solid looking ring plasmoids are not in themselves vortices though they may be associated with moving air or water is a broken ring trace shown by Matsumoto in Fig. 7 of Ref. 14. The giant plasmoids shown in Bach's book periodically blinked on and off as do other plasmoids. Since as Bach described some ball lightning phenomena are reported to be cool or cold, various types of plasmoids may have both exothermic and endothermic phases.

Ohmori et al.(25) will soon publish an article about the production of elements and heavy elements by electrolysis of regular water and gold electrodes. In many ways, their work reminds me of Matsumoto's prior transmutation article. They presented this paper at a meeting on the production of elements that was held in Texas, and several other experimental papers reporting the production of elements were also presented. So Matsumoto's observation is being confirmed now. They found deposits at the bottom of their glass vessal in which the majority of the elements were new elements: Hg, Pt, Fe, Si, and F. They also found volcano-like structures on their electrodes which look somewhat like volcanoes on the earth, one of which was 20 micrometers wide and 30 micrometers high, though it is evident that the tiny size and differing composition of the tiny structures may be responsible for the novel shapes. However, unlike Matsumoto's procedure, they did not analyze the inner structure of the electrode. So it is suggested that they cut them open and do so.

I had been predicting such volcano stuctures in electrodes and various devices. The volcanoes are composed of gold and also the elements which were left on the bottom of the device. This suggests to me something akin to that which happens in volcanoes on the earth. There is the production of elements and the moving of substance above the surface forming a cone. There is also the emission of moving plasmoids that may leave new elements as residues in various places such as at the bottom of the cells and the outspewing of substance similar to the way that lava is thrown up and falls back down on the earth as various kinds of igneous rocks such as pumice or basaltic rocks. I suggest that the various kinds of rocks and minerals that people find in igneous rock formations may be mimicked by various devices. Look for more porous types of rocks on the bottom of the devices or landed away from eruption points, and look for denser deposites or lava flows on the surface of the material near the point of outpouring. Look for crystals of various minerals and elements perhaps under the volcano-like structures similar to the way that there may be zones of crystals under volcanoes or in igneous pipes. However, the plasmoid emission of various devices may leave residues much unlike that normally thought to be produced in volcanoes, but like gorgon and ball lightning residues. The residues that were found at the bottom of the volcanoes were porous like pumice.

It may be that at least some of the crystal-lined voids found by Matsumoto and shown in his 1991 article led to surface structures similar to volcanoes. The crystal-lined voids may therefore be similar to those found in igneous pipes and formations.

To me, the significance of this elemental production work and various types of devices producing excess energy or excess current is the confirmation of my original ideas about atoms and atomic transformations. I have long thought that atoms are plasmoids and like plasmoids can convert to light and electricity directly. This has been my explanation for the CF phenomena and ball lightning phenomena and other anomalies. Atoms may transform to other kinds of atoms, larger or smaller plasmoids that may move, or directly to electricity and light. I suspect that the recent Correa patents may come closest to showing people that the lattice of electrodes actually converts to both plasmoids and electrical output, the surges they report. People may often find additional electrical output associated with various devices associated with atomic transformations or excess radiation in the form of plasmoid emission such as electrons or electrical current.

I have described trying to apply MHD theory as developed by plasmoid physicists and astrophysicists to the plasmoid phenomena in superconductors called "superconducting vortices(26)," and I suspect that the superconducting aspects of plasmoids including the ability of even large ones such as ball lightning to travel though insulators such as glass or ceramics without much change to the insulators is related to the clumping of atoms and other plasmoids. Very small plasmoids such as electrons may clump to form atoms, and atoms may in the same way clump to form larger atoms or larger plasmoids.

Some of the recent ball lightning researchers have emphasized that there are cases of ball lightning observation from which an estimate of the energy content and energy density of the ball lightning may be determined by the effects. In several cases reported by Barry(27) and Roth(28), the manifested energy per size of BL was much higher than any known chemical effect -- up to about 100,000 Joules per cubic centimeter of ball lightning. In comparison, TNT manifests energy at about 2000 Joules per cubic centimeter of material. There are also various reports of people receiving burns from ball lightning and then manifesting long term symptoms typical of that of radiation poisoning due to atomic blasts, and reports of ball lightning-like phenomena leaving residues of radioactive substances and even very heavy rare radioactive elements(29)(30), such as one that landed on a hill near Vladivostok(29). Many of the phenomena like these were termed "UFOs," and were reported in UFO magazines or popular TV shows, but I think that these were probably plasmoids. Matsumoto has reported about the observation of new elements in a micrometer size thing that he pictured(31) that was either a dark ring plasmoid or a ring plasmoid residue or effect. It was produced by discharge and was on an electrode, and it was negatively charged and magnetized, as seems to be usual for plasmoids. He called it a ball lightning. Since it is evident that BL-like plasmoids are produced in electrolysis and discharge apparatus, these must be considered a source of at least some the anomalous radiation.

There is also evidence of an association of ball lightning and spontaneous human combustion (SHC). According to a report(32) on The Extraordinary, three women were walking down some stairs outside, when according to the other two a "strange spark" fell towards one of them and she burst into flames. Spontaneous human combustion also seems to be plasmoid phenomena, and various anomalous aspects such as localized melting or burning remind me of ball lightning phenomena.

During electrolysis or electrical discharge, as during volcanic activity, much substance may convert to light and/ or electricity, and may convert to plasmoids of various types and sizes. Plasmoids of various sizes may be emitted and become electrical discharges or light or cause changes far from the cite of origin. Neutrons and other types of plasmoids may be emitted, and new elements and substances may be produced and left as residues.

Figure 1:

A micrometer size ring plasmoid left these marks on a piece of nuclear emulsion that Matsumoto set near an electrical discharge device. He has produced many other traces like these. The plasmoid was produced by electrical discharge in a solution of ordinary water and potassium carbonate using a cadmium electrode, and traveled through water, glass, and air to reach the emulsions. from T. Matsumoto, Artificial Ball-Lightning -- Photographs of Cold Fusion, manuscript dated Jan. 17, 1995 presented at the 5th International Conference on Cold Fusion, April 9-13, 1995, Monaco.

Traces like these produced by Matsumoto are very important phenomena. This trace is of a phenomena that is intermediate between ball lightning, whirlwinds, and plasmoids, and thus is evidence of an identity of all these phenomena. Such micrometer size plasmoids are obviously associated with the "cold fusion" phenomena, and are apparently a locus of the phenomena. They are proof of my original idea that Matsumoto was producing plasmoids like ball lightning.

16. I would like to say that I understood that the structure of atoms may be the same as that of ball lightning before I received this letter, after I read his patent. Also, E. Lewis, "A Description of Phenomena According to My Theory and Experiments to Test It," submitted to Fusion Technology, December 1992.

25. T. Ohmori, T. Mizuno, M. Enyo, "Isotopic Distributions of Heavy Metal Elements Produced During the Light Water Electrolysis on Gold Electrode," manuscript article presented at the 2nd Int. Conf. on Low Energy Nuclear Reactions, Texas A & M, College Station, Texas, 10/13/96, to be published in the proceedings in the Journal of New Energy.